Mastering Gmail

How-To Overview

This wiki is about getting the most out of what many consider to be the most powerful and versatile email client available. The purpose of this wiki is to inform the reader about the many features Gmail offers to make organizing and using email more efficient and productive.

Because a central goal of Gmail is to allow you to never have to delete another email message again--giving you access to any email data you have ever sent or received--much of the following information is concerned with storing, organizing and accessing your messages and the information they contain.

Materials Needed

Computer

Modem

Internet connection

Gmail account

Labels

Labels are Gmail's version of tags--single-word indicators (as many as you like) that you can add to a message for classification purposes. Messages can have multiple labels, regardless of where they are filed.

• Creating Labels: 1) When on the homepage Gmail account, check the box to the left of the message you want to label; if in a specific message, simply do the following. 2) Click on the "More actions..." dropdown above your messages, and select "New label..." in the dropdown. 3) Enter the name of your new label in the box that appears.
• Adding Labels: When in a specific message, click on the "More actions..." dropdown and select the available label; if on your homepage, check the box to the left of the message you want to label and follow the same directions.
• Removing Labels: Click the "More actions..." dropdown and select the appropriate label you want to remove underneath the "Remove label:" heading.
• Archiving: When a message is archived, it will be archived in the label folders for each of the labels you attach to it. (Warning: If you send a message to the trash from one label folder, it will also be cleared from all other label folders in which it had previously been placed.)

Shortcuts

c (compose): Allows you to compose a new message. <Shift> + c allows you to compose a message in a new window.

/ (search): Puts your cursor in the search box.

k (move to newer conversation): Opens or moves your cursor to a more recent conversation. You can hit <Enter> to expand a conversation.

j (move to older conversation): Opens or moves your cursor to the next oldest conversation. You can hit <Enter> to expand a conversation.

n (next message): Moves your cursor to the next message. You can hit <Enter> to expand or collapse a message. (Only applicable in 'Conversation View.')

p (previous message): Moves your cursor to the previous message. You can hit <Enter> to expand or collapse a message. (Only applicable in 'Conversation View.')

o or <Enter> (open): Opens your conversation. Also expands or collapses a message if you are in 'Conversation View.'

u (return to conversation list): Refreshes your page and returns you to the inbox, or list of conversations.

y (archive*/Remove from current view): Automatically removes the message or conversation from your current view.

• (* 'y' has no effect if you're in 'Spam,' 'Sent,' or 'All Mail.')
• From 'Inbox,' 'y' means Archive
• From 'Starred,' 'y' means Unstar
• From any label, 'y' means Remove the label

x (select conversation): Automatically checks and selects a conversation so that you can archive, apply a label, or choose an action from the drop-down menu to apply to that conversation.

s (star a message or conversation): Adds or removes a star to a message or conversation. Stars allow you to give a message or conversation a special status.

! (report spam): Marks a message as spam and removes it from your conversation list.

r (reply): Reply to the message sender. <Shift> + r allows you to reply to a message in a new window. (Only applicable in 'Conversation View.')

a (reply all): Reply to all message recipients. <Shift> +a allows you to reply to all message recipients in a new window. (Only applicable in 'Conversation View.')

f (forward): Forward a message. <Shift> + f allows you to forward a message in a new window. (Only applicable in 'Conversation View.')

<Esc> (escape from input field): Removes the cursor from your current input field.

Quick Tips

Quick Addressing: Entering a portion of the username (of someone you have emailed or who has emailed you) into the "To," "Cc," or "Bc" fields will generate a dropdown of all the usernames that include the letters you have entered. Simply click on one to add the address to our outgoing message.

View Attachments: Image and document attachments from others are labeled in your email messages with the size of the file and two links, one of which says "View" and one that says "Download." By clicking the "View" link, you can see the contents of the file before downloading.

Find Unread Messages Easily: Using the search term "label:Unread" in the search box will yield all your unread messages.

Searching Within Labels: When performing a search within your Gmail account via the search box, entering the name of label(s) in addition to your search terms will yield results from only those messages that have been labeled correspondingly. To do so (for your label "example," for example), enter "label:example" and your search terms.

• Other examples of drilling down search criteria involve the following: "has:attachments," "after: 2006/12/21"
• You can also exclude labeled criteria from your searches by simply adding, for example "-label:example" to your search terms.

Find Out What's New: Discovering new features in Gmail is as easy as clicking on the "Help" link in the top right corner of your account homepage, which will take you to the Gmail Help Center. From there, click on the "What's New" link, which will take you to a page listing new features for Gmail. You can also find a wealth of information about how to use Gmail on the Help Center page.

Switching to Gmail

Google offers an interactive walk-through on how to painlessly switch to Gmail from your current email provider, including the following:

• Exporting contacts form your email account
• Importing contacts into your new Gmail account
• Switching to Gmail page

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